5 Economic Comparisons Between Inauguration 2013 and 2009

Jan. 21, 2013 — -- intro:President Obama, who was publicly sworn in for a second term today, said the nation faced a number of challenges in his speech but focused little on the U.S. economy, which he said was in "recovery."

In Photos: Inauguration Day 2013

"A decade of war is now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America's possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention," Obama said in his speech on Monday.

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Here is how five key economic indicators have changed since the president was first inaugurated in 2009:

quicklist:category: Highermedia: title: Unemployment Ratetext:

The unemployment rate in December 2012 was 7.8 percent, up from the unemployment rate in December 2008, 7.3 percent. During President Obama's first term, unemployment peaked at 10 percent in October 2009.

quicklist:category: Recoveringmedia: title: Real Estatetext:

There were 152,511 foreclosure filings in December 2012, down from 303,410 in December 2008, according to RealtyTrac.

New home single-family home sales in Nov. 2012: seasonally adjusted annual rate of 377,000. It was 355,000 in Nov. 2009.

The median sales price of new houses sold in November 2012 was $246,200. That compares with the median sales price for a new home of $217,400 four years ago.

Existing home sales:Existing homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million units in November 2012, according to the National Association of Realtors.

As of Nov. 2012, sales were at the highest level since November 2009 when the annual pace spiked at 5.44 million, the NAR said last month.

quicklist:category: Highermedia: title: Retail Salestext:

Retail and food service sales in December 2012 were $415.7 billion, seasonally adjusted, an increase of 0.5 percent from the previous month and up 4.7 percent from December 2011.

In December 2008, they were $333.4 billion seasonally adjusted, a decrease from November 2008's sales of $343 billion.

quicklist:category: Highermedia: title: GDPtext:

In the most recently available data, U.S. GDP increased at an annual rate of 3.1 percent in the third quarter of 2012 from the second quarter.

In the third quarter of 2008, GDP decreased at an annual rate of 0.5 percent from the second quarter of that year, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

quicklist:category: Highermedia: title: Stock market text:

On Friday, Jan. 18, 2013, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 13,649, while the Nasdaq closed at 3,134.71 and the S&P 500 closed at 1,485.98.

On Friday, Jan. 16, 2009, the last day the market was open before President Obama was first inaugurated on the following Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 8,281.22. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 1,529.33 and the S&P 500 closed at 850.09.